


A New Ally

by indie_raven



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Carmen Sandiego, Chief is a little shit, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Julia Joins Carmen, Lesbian Julia Argent, Post-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28560921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indie_raven/pseuds/indie_raven
Summary: **set after season 3**Julia joins Carmen's team after she quits ACME, hijinks ensue.
Relationships: Julia "Jules" Argent/Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep
Comments: 3
Kudos: 72





	1. A Lost Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julia bumps into Carmen during a work trip to Venice and she makes Jules an offer

Venice, Italy

Juila Argent walked along the streets of Italy, lost in her pursuit of a new life. The job at the museum had been quiet. No one gave her weird looks because she trusted a “superthief”, no one rolled their eyes at her ideas, and there was especially no Chase Devineaux to tell her to stop doing what she loved. But it was just that, quiet, too quiet. Julia had joined Interpol, and then ACME for a reason. Yes she loved history, but she also loved the thrill of the chase, the solving of the crime. Now that she had left both places, all she was left with were old relics and untold stories, forever lost in time.  
Julia stopped and admired the buildings around her, she wondered what Chase would have said.  
“Miss Argent, you have to stop looking around at the scenery and stay on task! We must track down and catch la femme rouge!”  
Yes, that’s exactly what he would say. She groaned at her thoughts, just thinking about him gave her a headache. She didn’t want this anymore, she wanted something to do, a greater purpose. She had told Chief that she left because ‘her heart wasn’t in the game’ anymore. It wasn’t a lie, it wasn’t, but she didn’t exactly say why. No one believed her anymore, no one believed in her anymore. Agent Zari just thought of her as a liability and Chase just ignored her and insulted her interests. And Chief, Chief was her boss, she said the same about everyone.  
Julia sighed as she neared the edge of the bridge she was standing on. She stated down into her reflection and only saw a failure, small droplets fell into the water below her. She was so lost in her reflection, in her sorrow, that she didn’t notice the commotion around her. A boat zoomed by her, startling her and causing her to lose her balance. Before she knew what was going on, she fell off the bridge and landed in what seemed to be a red boat. Her eyes flickered and she let them close, giving into darkness. 

Carmen Sandiego zoomed across Venice’s waterways with her carte full of decoy masks. She smiled at the thought of saving the precious masks from VILE’s nefarious clutches. She then thought back to what Agent Devineaux had told her when she asked about her favourite ACME agent, Jules.  
“That is classified! But Miss Argent is no longer with us,”  
She frowned, what had happened to her? She knew Devineaux had been fired for a while, but she could understand that, he was a bit of a mess, though he had gotten smarter lately. But Jules? Jules was incredibly intelligent and she paid attention to what was important. No, there’s no way Chief would fire her. So what happened?  
Before she could ponder that thought though, Neal the Eel had caught up to her and it was time to go through with the rest of her plan. Jules could wait a couple more minutes.  
~  
Everything turned out as planned, Neal took the bait, Devineaux was confused and didn’t catch up to her, it was a good day to be her.  
“W-what, where am I?” a hoarse voice mumbled.  
Carmen stiffened, that voice was awfully familiar, she pulled into a small alleyway and stopped the boat. She turned and saw Julia Argent lying near her seat, hand on her forehead.  
“Jules?” Carmen asked softly.  
Julia’s eyes widened when the red thief saw her, “C-Carmen Sandiego,”.  
Carmen smiled and extended a hand to her, Julia was reluctant at first but eventually took her hand.  
“What brings you to my boat Jules?” Carmen asked, crossing her arms.  
Julia’s smile faltered for a quick second, “Oh, I fell off a bridge, onto here, it was an accident, I’m sorry,”.  
Carmen saw how red her eyes were, she’s been crying. Without thinking, Carmen brought Julia in for a hug.  
She moved her arm on her back in a circular motion, “Are you okay Jules?”.

Julia didn’t know what to say. She had crash-landed on Carmen Sandiego’s boat mid-caper, given her a strange excuse for being here, and now the red thief was hugging her!? She was taken aback. But she didn’t want to stay silent, even though she barely knew her, she wanted to tell her everything, Julia didn’t know why.  
She asked again after a minute of silence, “Are you okay Jules? Devineaux told me you weren’t with ACME anymore and I was worried,”.  
At this point Julia was beyond confused, why in the world would the scarlet superthief worry about someone as insignificant as her? Carmen broke away and took off her hat, setting it on the driver’s seat of the boat. She looked down at Julia, reading her like an open page.  
Julia knew there was no way she could lie or get out of this, so she took a breath, “I- I quit. I’m not with ACME anymore because I quit. My heart just wasn’t in it anymore, seeing them think you were bad when you were trying to help just broke me. What was worse is that they all hate me, Zari, Devineaux, Chief, all of them. I tried to pursue a career in history like I thought I wanted, but it wasn’t at all what I thought It’d be. I missed the thrill of the chase, I missed the crime, and I guess I missed looking up the history behind what you were stealing that day. I came here to Venice to be a representative for one of the masks on display, I thought maybe I would get some inspiration, but I got nothing. So I just wandered through the streets of Venice, hoping something would happen,”.  
After she finished, Julia just soon there, head cast downward, not daring to look Carmen Sandiego in the eyes.  
Finally, after a few minutes the red thief wrapped her arms around Julia, “Oh Jules, I was so worried! I’m glad you’re unharmed, I thought VILE had captured you! But now I know that you’re unhappy, so how about this?”.  
Carmen Sandiego let go of Julia but set her hands on the shoulders of the shorter woman, “How about you come with me and we have lunch with my crew. If you like them, maybe you could stay. After all, I did startle you and you did fall in my boat,”.  
Julia thought for a moment. She didn’t have anywhere to go and she could easily renounce her job back at the museum. If she went with the red thief now and met her team, she might find some friends who appreciated her. She would be able to learn history without anyone telling her it was dumb, she would still enjoy the thrill of the chase with people she trusted, it was perfect.  
“Okay, Miss Sandiego,” Julia started, “I’ll take you up on your offer,”.  
The thief smiled, “Call me Carmen,”.  
Julia smiled and nodded, “Okay Carmen,”.

Carmen grabbed her hat and sat down in the driver’s seat of the boat. She waited for a minute for Julia to realize what was going on and take her spot in the passenger’s seat.  
“Buckle up Jules, this is going to be fun,” Carmen said in a playfully sinister voice as she hit the gas and they zoomed down Venice’s aquamarine canals.  
~  
Carmen found laughing along to one of Zack’s stupid jokes. She was sitting under a shaded table in a small restaurant with Zack, Ivy, Shadowsan, Player, and Jules. She had told the group that they were having lunch with an old friend, they had been excited to see Julia. After introducing Julia to everyone and what role they played, she, Jules, and the group celebrated having saved the masks from VILE’s clutches. Even Shadowsan seemed to relax a bit, it must’ve been because his brother finally understood.  
“Carm, do you know what the pizza’s coming, I’m so hungry!” Zack wined.  
Ivy rolled her eyes, “Chill out bro, we only ordered five minutes ago!”.  
Zack groaned in reply and leaned back in his chair. Player laughed a bit from beyond the screen. He was on a FaceTime call on Carmen’s phone, she had wanted Jules to have a chance to meet all of her squad. She and Player had seemed to hit it off, same with Ivy. She watched as Ivy turned to Jules and whispered something in her ear. This in turn made Julia blush fiercely, and Carmen wondered what could have made her blush. Jules then chuckled a bit and reached for an olive from the plate in the center of the table. Carmen couldn’t take her eyes off Julia for a second, even when the food arrived and she was eating, she still stole glances of the former ACME agent. 

Julia loved Carmen’s crew. They were fun, caring, and not judgemental at all. Though Shadowsan did seem a bit iffy to her, she let it slide since Carmen trusted him. Zack came off to her a little annoying but he was loveable and a dork in his own right. He was much better than Devineaux or Zari that was for sure. Ivy and Player were her favourites, they were so kind and enjoyable to be around, something she never got from anyone else in her life. By the time she had finished her food she no longer thought of herself as such a big failure anymore, she also knew where she wanted to stay from now on. As Ivy, Zach, and Shadowsan stood up to get moving to foil another heist, Carmen walked over to her.  
“So Jules, make up your mind yet?” she asked her.  
Julia bit her lip, “Yes,” she began, casting her eyesight downward, “I’d like to stay with you, become a part of your crew. If that’s okay,”.  
Carmen smiled at her and stretched out her hand as if she was making a deal, “Welcome aboard,”.  
Julia took Carmen’s hand and shook it, smiling proudly. As soon as they broke apart, Carmen took her by the shoulders and dragged her over to the others.  
“Guys, I’d like to formally introduce you to our new teammate, Julia Argent,” she said.  
Everyone cheered, and hugged her together.  
“Welcome to the family Julia!” Ivy and Zack said as they gave her a big squeeze.  
“Happy to have you,” Player added from Carmen’s phone.  
Shadowsan didn’t say anything but he gave Julia a nod of acknowledgement.  
Julia smiled genuinely for the first time in a while, it seemed she finally had a place to call home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Readers!
> 
> I'm Indie and I started writing this on Wattpad, and now it's here! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy, see you next chapter!
> 
> ~ Indie


	2. Jewel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julia gets to go on her first caper

San Diego, California (Team Red’s Home Base)  
Two Months After the Season 3 Finale

“Faster!”  
“Harder!”  
“Good, again!”  
Julia Argent had been training with Carmen Sandiego and Shadowsan at their base for two months now. She was getting better at stealing and she had gotten significantly stronger. Carmen had told her that she was almost a good pickpocket as her, Julia had taken this as a compliment. Not only was she learning these new skills, she was also learning about Carmen and Shadowsan’s history with VILE. Even when she thought she knew everything, she would learn something new. Never had she worked so hard in her life but been so happy. During the day she would train and study, in the late afternoon she would spend time with Ivy, Zack, and Carmen, and at night she would brainstorm about what Carmen had told her the first week she was here.   
“You might want to change your getup to be easier to run around in,”   
She was right of course, lately she was wearing some of Carmen’s training clothes. They didn’t fit her slim and shorter figure very well, but it worked for now.   
She was brought back from her thoughts by the deep voice that belonged to Shadowsan, “Perfect, Julia! Take a break!”.  
She stopped hitting the red punching bag and panted. She turned to face Carmen and Shadowsan’s direction, who were having a conversation she could barely hear. 

Carmen had been watching Jules train with Shadowsan for the past week and she knew that the former ACME agent was ready to go out in the field.   
“I think she’s ready to go on her first caper,” Carmen said.  
“Are you sure Carmen? She’s only had two months of training as a thief,” Shadowsan retorted.   
Carmen made a face, “She worked at Interpol and ACME, not to mention she’s incredibly smart. I think we should give her a chance, she’s worked really hard!”.  
“As always Carmen, you are right. I’ll ask Player if there’s any chatter from VILE, you and Julia figure out what part she’ll play, any tools she needs, all of that,” Shadowsan said as he patted Carmen on the back and left the room.  
Carmen chuckled a bit and walked over to Julia, who was gulping down a bottle of water. She was wearing a crimson red ill-fitting shirt that belonged to Carmen that was tucked into a pair of black running shorts that were borrowed from Ivy. Carmen had tried to get Julia to buy new clothes, but she refused, not wanting to take a break for her work. When Carmen had offered to buy them for her, she didn’t let her “waste” her money on her.   
“Hey Jules,” Carmen greeted as she approached Julia.   
Julia set her water bottle down on a box, and wiped the sweat off her forehead with a towel.   
“Hi Carmen,” she said, giving her a warm smile.  
Carmen grinned back and pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear, “So, you’re all clear to go on our next mission,”.  
Carmen’s insides fluttered as she saw Julia beam. She raised her arm and balled her hand into a fist, then she brought it down quickly with an enthusiastic “yes!”. Carmen watched as Julia realized the brunette had been watching her and became flustered.   
“I-I mean,” her voice faltered as she straigheted herself out and erased the smile from her face, “Thank you for this opportunity,”.  
“Don’t worry Jules, you can be excited,” Carmen said, holding back a small chuckle.   
Julia’s emotionless face broke and she went back to celebrating, it was quite adorable. Carmen laughed quietly as she finished celebrating and turned to face her.   
“What do I need to do?” Julia’s voice was confident, something Carmen hadn’t seen when she was with ACME.  
Carmen paused for a moment and sighed, “Listen, Jules, I need you to understand a couple things before you go on a caper with us,”.  
“Yes?” she said, adjusting her glasses.  
“First thing,” she started, looking directly at Julia, “Once you've seen with us most people will see you as an enemy, I need to know you’re okay with that,”.  
Julia’s voice was soft when she spoke, “I know that Carmen, I know that joining you has it’s disadvantages. But I know that I’m not doing any wrong, and that’s all that matters to me,”.  
Carmen nodded and took another breath, “Secondly, If you’re seen with me that means you’re VILE’s enemy too. They might try and kidnap or kill you to get to me. They could also find your family and hurt them. I would hate for you to be hurt and I need you to understand the risks, do you?”.  
Julia bit her lip and nodded slowly, “As I told you before, there are risks to being on your team. I’ll take all of them though, this is the happiest I’ve been, and I- I don’t really have much of a family anyways,”.  
Carmen’s heart broke at the realization that Julia didn’t have a family either. She and her crew were the only family she’d ever had, no wonder she would take all these risks. Without thinking, Carmen brought Julia into a hug, just like on the boat in Venice. Just that this time Julia hugged back instead of being frozen in place.   
It was silent until Carmen spoke, “Jules, I would hate to see you hurt, so I’m going to need you to do a couple things for me, okay?”   
Julia nodded as they broke apart from the hug, “What is it?”.  
“I want you to pick a codename and a disguise, something to use on missions so people won’t recognize you at first glance. Think of it as a precaution, to keep the family and friends you do have safe,” Carmen whispered, looking down into Julia’s eyes. 

Julia met Carmen’s eyes and thought for a moment. It was smart, picking a disguise and a codename would protect her mother and her younger sister. The Argents weren’t very close to her heart, and they weren’t necessarily nice to her either. It was because ‘they didn’t approve of her profession’ they said, but she knew it was so much more. But out of the love they’d shown her before they started hating her, she decided to protect them.   
She thought about possible codenames for a couple minutes. Continuously glancing over at Carmen who was pacing around, probably talking to Player about their caper. Her mind wandered around things that made her happy, history, stealth, learning? No, none of those made good codenames. Her eyes went wide when she realized the best code name had been right in front of her the whole time. Carmen seemed to have sensed that she’d figured it out and walked over to her.   
“So? You got it?” Carmen asked, holding her hands behind her back.   
Julia smiled, “Jewel,”.  
“Pardon?” Carmen asked, taken aback by what she had just said.   
“Since you always call me Jules and that sounds like ‘jewels’, I decided that Jewel is the perfect codename,” Julia explained.   
Carmen smiled warmly, “Well, Jewel, Player and I have a gift for you,”.  
Carmen brought her hands in front and presented Julia with a medium sized white case. It was wrapped nicely with a bow, obviously Carmen’s work. Julia’s face heated up a bit when she realized Carmen had taken time away from her planning just to nicely tie up this bow for her. Julia took it in her hands and opened up the box, surprised at what she saw.   
They were glasses. They were round, just like the ones that she usually wore, just that these had red lenses. The frames were a dark navy and had some crimson red spiked sticking out at the ends, making the round glasses look like suns. Julia loved them so much, they would work perfectly with the disguise she had put together in her head.   
“I- I don’t know what to say, thank you Carmen!” she exclaimed, giving Carmen a quick hug.  
Carmen grinned, “They have your prescription, and a few other things, Player made them,”.  
Julia, confused as to what she meant by ‘other things’ decided to try them on. As soon as they were on her face she saw everything in a red hue. She also realized that when she looked around at material things, she saw what they were made of and what was beyond them. She could see the heat signature of Shadowsan and the heat signature of the computer he seemed to be talking too. She turned back at Carmen and saw her in a red hue as well as the contents of her pockets. She processed it, that’s a lot of candy wrappers Carmen.   
“Now,” Carmen said, clicking a button on the side of the frame that made the glasses go back to ‘normal’, “Did you give your disguise any thought?”.  
Julia smiled in a way that would make anyone know her answer was yes. 

The Next Day: Late Morning

As the crew was getting ready to depart from San Diego, Julia came out, dressed in her new getup. She had spent the rest of the day yesterday and much of this morning getting ready for the reveal. Everyone gasped when they saw the new her. The glasses she received as a gift from Player and Carmen replaced her old ones. Right now they were normal, not showing her the contents of things or any heat signatures. Her old earrings were replaced with red ones, so she could communicate with Player. On her right wrist was a red watch Player had helped her make so she would always be on time. The watch also had a few tricks up its sleeve, but those would be revealed in good time. On her left wrist was a wristband she and Player had also engineered so she could scan and look things up. It was basically a computer on her wrist. Her usual blazer and orange blouse were replaced with a dark blue vest. The vest had three red circles on the right chest area. The necklace she always wore was still a part of her getup, a reminder of her past life. She had decided to keep the same kind of pants, but this time they were a different brand so she could move around easier in them. She had swapped her dress shoes for a pair of heeled boots. They were a brown so close to crimson red that you couldn’t really tell if they were red or brown.

Carmen couldn’t contain the blush when she saw Julia, she looked amazing. Her arms were significantly more toned after all the training with her and Shadowsan and her face beamed with excitement. She was beyond excited for the caper with Julia.


	3. Intermission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before they arrive in Austria, Carm and Jules make a decision

Somewhere in the World (Team Red’s Private Jet)

The flight was filled with chatter, plans were laid and snacks were eaten, well, mostly by Zack. In a few minutes, the group would go over their final plan and get some much needed rest while they drew closer to their destination.   
Julia had only stared out the window while she listened in on Zach and Shadowsan’s conversation. She was terribly nervous for the upcoming heist, she just didn’t want to let Carmen down. The thought of failing her sent spirals of nausea through her body. She was so caught up in her worrying she barely noticed when Ivy walked over and plopped down in front of her.   
“Hiya Julia,” she greeted, crossing her legs.   
Julia jumped a bit at her friends’ voice, “Hi Ivy,”.  
“You nervous?” Ivy asked, her face warm and kind.   
Julia smiled at the concern of her friend, “A bit, I just don’t want to mess up,”.  
“You won't,” Ivy said, standing up and giving Julia a friendly punch on the shoulder.   
“How do you know?” Julia asked in surprise, adjusting her glasses.   
Ivy gave her another smile, “I just do,”.  
Julia had wanted to ask Ivy how she was so sure, but Carmen called the final team meeting. Everyone including Julia walked closer and sat in on the two couches near Carmen.   
Carmen gave everyone a determined grin and started to speak, “Okay team, we’ll be in Austria in about five hours, until then I’m going to run down the plan and then we’ll all get some rest, understood?” everyone nodded in agreement, “First, Player, tell us what we know about VILE’s plan,”.  
Player cleared his throat from beyond the screen, “I was scouring around on the web and found something about VILE trying to steal something from Mozart’s birthplace in Salzburg, Austria,”.  
Shadowsan joined in, “If I know anything about VILE, this is Countess Cleo’s doing. Sending operatives to steal priceless treasures is usually her M.O,”.  
Julia nodded, “ACME is bound to send two agents once you’re spotted in Salzburg, most likely Agents Devineaux and Zari,”.  
“Player found that they’re targeting a collection of Mozart’s first pieces he wrote as a child. So, when we arrive, Julia and I, with Player’s help, will snoop around the museum and the area around it for potential escape routes, entrances, and information. That night, Shadowsan and I will secure the precious compositions while Player takes down surveillance cameras and any alarms that the place has on. Zack will be ready in our getaway vehicle while Ivy distracts the VILE operatives. Now that brings us to Julia’s part, once Shadowsan, Zack, and I are in the clear, we’ll drop the compositions with her and she’ll get them to ACME. Everyone understand?” Carmen informed the group one last time.   
Everyone nodded and left the main cabin for some rest. Carmen’s jet was very interesting since it had two floors. On the top ‘floor’ was a sort of main cabin, where there were couches and tables to sit and eat. On the bottom ‘floor’ there were a couple small cabins, four to be exact. Three of them had one queen sized bed and a small closet and the last one had a bunk bed. Zack and Ivy stayed in the room with the bunk bed, Carmen and Shadowsan each occupied one of the queen sized bed rooms, and Julia had taken the last one.   
Julia opened the sliding door of the cabin and closed it behind her. She opened the small closet and looked inside to find her small suitcase. It had been packed with a necessary change of clothes, some weapons Carmen had supplied her with, her tablet, and a couple books. She quickly changed into her casual wear, a black tank top she’d bought recently and gray pajama bottoms. She then grabbed a book on the history of Austria and collapsed on her bed. 

Carmen was laying on her bed, unable to get any rest. She knew she wouldn’t sleep any more than two hours but that didn’t mean she didn’t want those two hours. She took out her hair extensions and let her shoulder-length hair fall. She was wearing a red t-shirt over some black running shorts with white edges. As she laid on the bed she kept thinking of something, or rather, someone.   
Julia. Carmen had known that she felt differently about her crewmate since seeing her during her time as VILE’s fake operative. She had trusted her at that party and Jules had not compromised her. She just didn’t know how exactly she had felt about her until she had landed unexpectedly in her boat. Her insides flopped when she thought of Julia’s smiling face, her cute little laugh. Carmen sat up and covered her blushing face, she couldn’t be thinking like this. Julia was her friend, her crewmate, her ally. She couldn’t be going around like a teenager with an embarrassing crush. What would Zach and Ivy think? What would Player think? What would Shadowsan think? It would only hurt her, and Julia, if VILE found out she was romantically attached to someone else, it could end terribly for Julia. She had to think strategically, with her brain, not her heart. She had to try and get over her, it was for the best. 

Julia was reading her book on Austria, but found her mind floating off, thinking about a particular scarlet superthief. Julia had always found Carmen attractive, ever since they met in India. But after living with her for two months and really getting to know her, Julia would even say she was crazy about her. Everything she did, the way she walked, the way she smirked at her, the way she talked, everything had her flustered. If only she had the confidence to tell Carmen that. But she hid it well, making most people just see her occasional slip-ups as shyness.  
Julia sighed and closed her eyes, covering her face with her hands, “Why does she do this to me?”  
“Julia?” her earring buzzed.  
“Hi Player,” she whispered, not wanting to wake the others.   
“Are you thinking about Carmen again?” he asked.   
Julia bit her lip, “Yeah, I just- I don’t know what to do. I have these feelings, but I don’t want to make things weird if she doesn’t feel the same,”.  
Player had been helping her with her feelings about Carmen since he accidently heard her talking to herself once. He was only sixteen, but it felt good to have someone to talk to, someone to just listen and not make fun of her.   
“I think you should tell her, right now,” Player suggested.  
Julia was startled, “Right before a mission? Are you sure that’s a good idea Player? It might hurt her confidence or make her second guess her choice in allies. I don’t want to hurt her or her chances of securing the compositions,”.  
“You won’t hurt her,” Player assured her.   
Julia sighed again, looking longingly at the door, “How can you know for sure?”.  
“I just do,” he chuckled as he went offline and left Julia in silence. 

Carmen tossed and turned, but she couldn’t get Julia out of her head. After a while, she’d had enough of it and went to open the door. But, before she could, the door opened to reveal Julia looking at her nervously.   
“Jules! What a pleasant surprise, I was just going to go get you!” Carmen said, trying to mask the amount of butterflies attacking her stomach.   
Julia closed the door behind her and both women walked over and sat in front of each other on Carmen’s bed.   
“So, ah, Carmen, you looking for me?” Julia asked, fidgeting with her glasses.   
Carmen’s cheeks blushed when Julia asked the question, “I was ah, going to ask you- if you- ah- HAD A TOOTHBRUSH!”.  
Julia’s eyes widened as she raised her voice, Carmen chuckled awkwardly and sighed.   
“No I’m sorry I was lying, I-I just um- It’s hard for me to talk about my feelings,” she confessed.   
Julia smiled sadly, “I get that. Back at ACME, Zari hated feelings, she only cared about arresting you. Devineaux made fun of my feelings, of my interests, so I never really shared them,”.  
Carmen looked down, “In crime school, we were taught that feelings were weakness, that people could take advantage of them. While that is true, sometimes sharing your feelings with people you trust is worth it,”.  
“Do you trust me?” the words left Julia’s mouth before she could think.   
Carmen looked Julia in the eyes and placed one of her hands on Julia’s cheek, “Of course I do Jules,”.  
They stayed like that for a while, each of them wanting to close the small gap between their faces, but they couldn’t bring themselves to.   
“Hey Carmen?” Julia wondered aloud.  
“Yeah?” Carmen breathed.  
“What if I told you that I like you. Like, like like you,” Julia squeaked out.   
Carmen smiled, “Then I’d tell you that I like like you back,”.  
Both of them were silent after their short conversation. They were easy words to say in theory, but it had taken them each two months to admit.   
“Do you want to give this a try?” Julia asked very quietly.  
“Yes,” Carmen said almost immediately after Julia finished asking her question.  
They paused for a moment and Carmen’s thoughts found themselves pessimistic again.   
“What if VILE hunts you down specifically because you’re my girlfriend? What if VILE finds out and uses you to get to me? Oh I would be so destroyed if they hurt you!” Carmen exclaimed, her mind spiraling into possible futures where VILE tortured Julia like they did to Devineaux or kidnapped her like they did to Zack and Ivy.   
Julia cupped her hands around Carmen’s cheeks, “They won’t get to me, no one has to know, no one will find out,”.  
“How can you know that it will be alright?” Carmen asked, placing her hands over Julia’s wrists.   
Julia bit her lip once more and recited the lines she’d been hearing a lot tonight, “I just do,”   
Without thinking, Carmen closed the gap between their lips and initiated a sweet and loving kiss.   
It was quick, over in less than ten seconds, but it meant the world to the both of them. After they broke apart, Julia smiled and let herself fall into Carmen’s chest. She looked up at the brunette who was staring down at her and they laughed. They laughed hard, not sure why, but they did. Maybe it had something to do with how silly they had been acting before, maybe it was because they had finally admitted their feelings, but really it was because unlike most people in their lives, they were comfortable in just being together.


	4. Realize

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Jules and Carmen sort of have a date, ACME notices something

Carmen awoke first an hour and a half later. She assumed that she’d fallen asleep and what had happened with Jules had been a dream. She was about to get up and drag herself out of bed, but something restricted her from sitting herself up. Something, or rather, someone was still holding onto her.   
Carmen opened her eyes slowly and saw that Jules had fallen asleep right by her side, this made Carmen smile fondly at her. Carmen lifted her hand and placed it on Julia’s cheek, giving her a soft peck on the forehead.  
Julia’s eyes flickered open, “C-Carmen?”  
After a quick moment, Julia’s confusion turned to realization, and that realization caused her cheeks to turn a pale shade of pink.   
“Remember now?” Carmen joked as she wiggled her eyebrows. She then leaned into her ear, “We kissed,” she whispered.  
Julia grabbed a pillow and shoved it into Carmen’s face, “Shut up!”.  
“Hey! You can’t do that to your girlfriend!” Carmen said in a tone of fake betrayal.   
Julia smirked as she rose from the bed, hands on her hips, “And you have no right to make me so flustered, yet here we are,”.  
A mischievous smile crossed Carmen’s lips as she grabbed Julia from behind and dragged her down on the bed along with her. Julia fell, back down onto Carmen’s stomach and laughed. Carmen laughed too, wrapping her arms around Julia.   
“Carmen? What’s going on in there?”   
Ivy.   
Carmen and Julia quickly broke apart as the redhead opened the door. As soon as Ivy laid eyes on them, they were standing five feet apart looking awkwardly at her.   
“Um, so is anyone gonna tell me what’s so funny?” Ivy asked.   
Julia paused before blurting, “Inside joke, you wouldn’t get it,”.  
Ivy nodded and closed the door behind her.   
Carmen let out a sigh of relief, “Close call, huh Jules?”.  
She looked to her side to see that Julia was now sitting on the bed, head in her hands.  
“Jules?” Carmen asked, a sad tremble in her voice.   
Julia let herself collapse on the bed and it flopped when Carmen did the same, “I know it was my idea, but how long are we going to keep this a secret?”.  
“I don’t like this either, we’ll only do this as long as we need to,” Carmen paused, “Besides, I can’t wait for everyone to know you’re my girlfriend,”.  
Julia smiled at that and jumped off the bed, “Well, I need to go change, see you at dinner, Carmen,”.  
With that, Carmen’s blue-haired girlfriend left the room. 

A Few Hours Later: Late Afternoon, Sundown

The group sat in a booth at a restaurant near their hotel. Zack and Ivy sat on one side, Carmen and Julia on the other. Shadowsan sat in a chair the waiter had pulled over for him. Zack and Shadowsan were thoroughly reading their menus while Ivy tried to make origami with a napkin. Julia was hard at work, conversing with Player and buying entrances for Mozart’s birthplace. Carmen was attempting to read her menu, but kept trying to steal glances of Julia at the same time. Carmen was dressed in her usual red hoodie and black shirt. While Julia was in her newly made outfit. The other three kept their normal outfits, as usual.   
“Hallo,” The waiter greeted as he looked at the group.   
The waiter introduced himself as Ben and took their order. As soon as he was done and walked away, Carmen gave everyone her ‘I mean business look’.   
“Okay team, from now on refer to Julia as Jewel, got it?”  
Everyone nodded and Julia gave everyone a weak smile. Carmen took note of this and intertwined her fingers with Julia’s underneath the table. 

ACME Headquarters: Somewhere in the World

Agent Chase Devineaux sat at his desk across from Agent Zari’s, he was tired, no, exhausted. It had been two months since there’d been any sign of VILE, Carmen Sandiego, or his former colleague, Julia Argent. After Sandiego’s sudden disappearance and apparent arrest in London, they hadn’t heard from her since. Chief had tried reaching Miss Argent at her new job, but the manager had told her that she quit. Not only that, but Miss Argent had also completely disappeared from the globe. Her apartment was sold and her belongings vanished from it. Devineaux was sure that it was related to the vanishing of his nemesis. Maybe the scarlet superthief had kidnapped her?   
A voice broke him from his thoughts, it belonged to Agent Zari, “Devineaux, Chief has an assignment for us,”.  
Devineaux nodded and followed his partner to another room, where a hologram of Chief was waiting for them.   
“Agent Zari, Agent Devineaux, thank you for coming. I have called you here to inform you that our red thief has reappeared on the globe. This time, a hotel security camera located her in Salzburg, Austria,” Chief hesitated for a second, “But, that’s not the most interesting part,”.  
“Well, whatever it is, we’ll investigate it, Chief,” Zari confirmed.   
Chief cleared her throat and continued, “Well, she’s been seen with a new person. But I am unsure of who it could be. Our undercover agent, Benjamin Hardy, said that the team addresses her as ‘Jewel’,”.  
Devineaux let the information process and stared at the image of Carmen’s new teammate, ‘Jewel’. The picture was taken from afar, so it was a bit difficult to tell much of anything. But as Devineaux looked a little more closely, he saw a glare on her chest. That’s when he saw it, Julia’s necklace.   
Devineaux looked at the screen in bewilderment “Chief, I think I know who Jewel is,”.  
Zari and Chief turned to Devineaux, clearly interested in his input for once.   
“It-It’s Agent Argent,” he stuttered.   
Chief did a double take and looked at the picture more closely, “Good heavens Devineaux, you’re absolutely right! How did I not see this before!”.  
Zari gasped as she noticed the resemblance as well, “I can’t believe it! She joined the enemy! Chief, what should we do?”.  
Devineaux watched as Chief balled her fists and her look of surprise turned angry, “I want you to take her and bring her back. I won’t let her lose her way,”.

Salzburg, Austria: Nighttime

It was seven thirty by the time Carmen and Julia left the museum. They were both exhausted, but happy that they had done their job, well, Julia had anyway.   
“So, Jewel, before we head back to the hotel, want to grab a bite?” Carmen asked.   
“Didn’t we just have dinner?” Julia said.  
Carmen laughed, “It’s a date Jules,”.  
Julia’s face blushed, “Oh,”.  
They chuckled quietly and found a sausage truck near Mozart’s birthplace to buy a quick snack at. Carmen let Julia order and she waited for her girlfriend across the street on a bench. When Julia came back, she handed the sausage in a bun to Carmen and they ate them rather quickly.   
After they finished, they walked through the streets of Salzburg, nearing their hotel slowly, but surely. After thirty minutes, they were tired and went straight to the hotel, no stops. But, that changed when they stumbled across a couple familiar faces.  
“Jules,” Carmen cautioned as she put a protective arm in front of Julia and looked past the corner, “It’s Tigress,”.  
Julia looked the other way, “And Devineaux,” she added.  
Carmen looked between the two people between them and the hotel, “Ok, Jewel, you handle Tigress, I’ll handle Devineaux,”.  
Julia nodded and looked up at Carmen. Carmen gave Julia a smile and a quick peck on the lips. 

Julia approached Tigress with caution. With what she had learned from Carmen, her visor was identical to her glasses. She had also learned that Tigress could be brash and impulsive, not really thinking before acting. This gave Julia the upper hand, since she was exceptionally skilled at thinking before acting.   
Julia snuck up on the VILE operative, appearing behind her and smirking, “Back here, kitty cat,”.  
“Who are you? And where’s Sandiego?” Tigress spat.  
Julia laughed, “The name’s Jewel. I would say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but that would be a lie,”.  
Julia had been working on making herself seem more confident in the eyes of VILE operatives. Carmen insisted that it could act as a part if her disguise even more so. If people didn’t see her as Julia she couldn’t act as Julia. Carmen told her to think of Jewel as an alter ego, a performance per say. So, since Jewel was a performance, why not make her entertaining.  
“You didn’t answer me! Where’s Sandiego?” Tigress said in rage.   
Julia smiled, “She’s not here right now, but I’d be happy to give her a message from you,”.  
Tigress showed off her claws and was ready to lunge at Julia, but the former agent had a couple tricks up her sleeve. Quick as a flash, Julia pulled a homemade smoke bomb from one of the pockets in her vest and threw it between her and Tigress.   
As the alley filled with smoke, Julia crept up behind Tigress and stole her visor before turning a corner.   
“Player, are you ready for the next part?” Julia whispered to herself.  
“Phase two is uploaded onto your band, Jules” he replied.   
Julia grinned and looked at her band determinedly. She tapped a couple buttons and swiped in Tigress’ direction on the small screen. A hologram of her running towards a hologram Carmen appeared as the smoke cleared. Julia smiled wickedly as Tigress ran in the direction of her red herring, pun definitely intended.   
Julia had been working with Player to create a hologram technology similar to Chief’s during her two months of training. They were all stored in her band as well as other things she had no use for yet.   
As Julia watched Tigress slip away, a gloved hand intertwined its fingers with hers, “I managed to send Devineaux in the wrong direction. You?”.  
Julia looked up and gave Carmen a smile, “Tigress is now following some holograms Player and I created. Also, I got this from her, I was thinking you could repurpose it,”.  
Julia placed Tigress’ visor in Carmen’s free hand. Carmen pocketed it and placed an ACME issued gun in Julia’s other hand.   
“Funny, I grabbed this off Devineaux and thought you and Player might be able to do something with it,” Carmen said, chuckling as she and Julia walked into the hotel’s lobby.


	5. Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jules and Carmen have a talk

The two girlfriends ran into the hotel lobby with hands intertwined, laughing their heads off. Why they were laughing was a question that could be answered by no one. And they didn’t stop laughing until a familiar voice surprised them.   
“Ah, Carm? Where were you guys?” Zack asked.   
Before they could answer, Ivy interjected with her own statement, “Yeah, we were expecting you two more than an hour ago!”.  
“You gave us a heart attack!” Zack added.  
Carmen laughed nervously, letting go of Julia’s hand before anyone noticed how their hands were laced together. They slowly put some space between each other and tried to remain as neutral as possible, Carmen was doing way better than Julia by far.   
“I’m so sorry guys, we didn’t mean to worry you! We ran into some VILE operatives and we got a little caught up,” Carmen tried explaining.

Ivy didn’t seem to buy Carmen’s excuse, but Zack seemed to at least. In fact, Ivy was getting more and more suspicious of Carmen and Julia. Carmen treated her way differently than she did Zack and herself. It wasn’t that she hated them, no Julia was her friend, and Carmen was like her sister. She just didn’t like being lied to, and she knew they were lying, she just knew it. 

Julia didn’t like lying either, she saw the look on Ivy’s face when Carmen had told her a half-truth. It was the look of someone being lied to, she knew it all too well. Ivy was her friend, someone who had been kind, loyal, and honest throughout all her time here. It ate up her insides to keep such a big secret from her. But, if they told Ivy then they would need to tell Zack and Shadowsan and Player. If any of them slipped up while being questioned or captured, they could expose their secret to ACME or VILE.   
There was no way she could avoid this, it was just the way it had to be. 

The elevator ride to their hotel room was silent. Ivy and Julia were lost in thought, tired of the repetitive track of thoughts repeating in their minds. Zack was oblivious to this, as he usually was. He wasn’t an airhead like most people who didn’t know him took him as, he was just not very good at observing people.   
And Carmen. She was conflicted, not because of the lying, though that ate at her too. But of something Devineaux had told her when she ran into him. 

“I see Miss Argent with you now, femme rouge,”   
Carmen had rolled her eyes, “That’s none of your business, Devineaux,”   
“She’ll get bored of you, she always does. She just jumps around from job to job, she doesn’t care about you. She’ll leave eventually,” 

She knew it couldn’t be true, Devineaux had no idea what he was talking about. He didn’t know her like she did. Julia wasn’t like that, she would never toy with people’s emotions like that.  
But still, he was right. This wouldn’t last forever, it couldn’t. Julia might get hurt one day, and she’d decide she didn’t want this after all.   
STOP, STOP, STOP it Carmen! Julia would never do that!   
She just didn’t know if that would change soon. 

The elevator dinged at the fourth floor and the four of them stepped off. Shadowsan was sitting on a couch in the lobby for the floor. Julia still found it unreal that she was staying in a fancy hotel that had couches on every floor near the elevators to create a lobby of some sort. The four teammates approached Shadowsan, who had three hotel room cards with him. He gave one of them to Ivy and the other to Julia.   
“Don’t hotels usually give two cards per room?” Ivy asked.   
Shadowsan smirked, “I don’t trust you with one card, what makes you think I’ll trust you with two? If you lose this one, which you most definitely will, I’ll give you your second one,”.  
“You do know that we can just go to reception and get more, right?” Carmen said.   
Shadowsan simply groaned and walked off to his room, absolutely done with them.  
Zack chuckled a little bit and that inspired the rest of the group to let go of their doubts and worrying thoughts for a bit. After all, laughter was the best medicine.   
After a bit of laughing, what Ivy, Carmen, and Julia needed most of all, they broke to their hotel rooms. Julia went with Carmen of course and Ivy dragged her brother with her. Before the group split however, Ivy gave Julia a tight hug.   
Julia hugged back, wanting to tell her friend everything. Then, Ivy suddenly let go and ran into the other direction, away from her and Carmen.   
Julia stood there confused. Why did Ivy suddenly hug her and then run away? Thoughts flew all around her, overwhelming her brain and taking a toll on her mood.   
“Hey, Jules, you coming?” Carmen called from the door to their room.  
Crap. Julia had forgotten that she was the one with the key. The short-haired agent turned her head from Ivy’s direction and ran to Carmen’s side. She unlocked the door and Carmen held it open for her. Julia walked inside, surprised to see her luggage already there, then she remembered that Shadowsan had hotel cards too. She wished she could just talk to Carmen about what was going on, but she didn’t really know what to say. She was about to grab her sleepwear and head to the bathroom to change when something caused her to stop.   
“Julia,” Carmen said suddenly, peaking her girlfriend’s interest.   
This made Julia worry, Carmen never used her full name, she usually called her ‘Jules’ or ‘Jewel’, never just ‘Julia’ unless it was super important.   
“Y-yes?” She said, a little startled from the usage of her full name. 

Carmen bit her lip, there were so many ways this could go wrong. She didn’t want Jules to get the wrong idea, she just wanted a chance, so she was going to have to do this right, “Can we talk?” 

Julia almost dropped the clothes she was holding. How could Carmen just read her thoughts like that? Her shocked expression probably startled Carmen and thought she was mad or something. They really needed to work on communication. Julia felt like her thoughts and her mood had taken a complete one-eighty since earlier this evening. She didn’t know what happened, something in her just changed when she saw Ivy upset. She needed to tell Carmen this, but how could she?  
But she simply nodded, “Yeah, let’s talk,”   
They both sat on the edge of the bed. Julia played with her hands, which were covered in sweat. Why was she so nervous to talk to her? They had been laughing and eating sausages less than two hours ago. What changed?  
It was a pointless question to ask of course, for the both of them. Julia’s friendship with Ivy and the hurt it caused her to see that Ivy was upset for being lied to took a toll on her mood. And Carmen was still obsessing over what Devineaux had told her earlier.  
But they needed to communicate, the biggest parts of a relationship were caring, trust, honesty, and communication. If Julia didn’t voice her concerns, she would have no one to blame but herself for feeling so uneasy.   
“I- I can’t,” Julia blurted before she could think any longer.  
Carmen’s head shot up in surprise, “You can’t what?”  
“Lie anymore! I know we already talked about this, but just now, Ivy looked so upset,” Julia couldn’t hold it in anymore and leaned on Carmen for support.   
Carmen nodded and used her hand on Julia’s side to pat her hair in a soothing manner, “You’re right, neither can I, but, I actually wanted to ask you something,”.  
“Go ahead,” Julia said, trying to relax against Carmen’s shoulder.   
She took a breath, letting go of Julia’s hair and just wrapping her arm around Julia’s waist, “Would you ever get bored and just- just leave? Leave us? Leave me?”.  
Julia sighed and chuckled a bit, “Who told you that!? It was Devineaux wasn’t it?”.  
“W-what!? How did you know!” Carmen was started, unsure of how Julia knew that.   
Julia scoffed, “That idiot, of course he would try and get you to doubt me. Freaking homophobe,”   
“Excuse me, what?”  
Julia looked Carmen in the eyes, “When I started getting closer with Devineaux, when I still worked with Interpol, he asked me out. I didn’t think much of it, kindly rejecting him, telling him we were just friends. Then, when we were first recruited by ACME, he asked me out again, asking how I didn’t feel the same for him even after everything we’d been through. That’s when I decided to tell him I was a lesbian, as you can assume, he didn’t take it very well,”.  
“What happened?”  
“He just decided to start hating me. He made fun of me, my interests, even my attire sometimes. No one noticed, I doubt anyone even cared. To be honest that’s another reason I left ACME, to get away from him. I don’t think he really took into effect how hurtful he was being with me. But, don’t listen to him, he’s just trying to get under your skin,”  
“Wow, Jules, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe that idiot lied to drive a wedge between us,”  
Julia smiled up at Carmen, getting closer to her face, “This is why I hate lying,”.  
Carmen let herself laugh a bit and kissed Julia on the lips. It was quick and sweet as candy. They both then hugged each other, glad to have cleared up their ‘misunderstandings’.   
The two of them didn’t really enjoy being so rough with each other, they’d tried it before, but didn’t think it was for them. They much rather preferred cuddling and laughing together while Julia braided Carmen’s hair than making out with each other. People might think that it was naive of them, or plain childish, but they really didn’t care.   
“So, what do you think, should we tell them?” Carmen whispered into Julia’s ear.  
Julia’s eyes beamed and she broke from Carmen’s embrace, “Really!?”.  
“Really,” Carmen echoed.   
The two smiled at each other and decided to slip into their sleepwear. It was really just their casual wear, but sleepwear sounded cuter in Julia’s opinion. When they were done, Julia was dressed in a gray tank top with black running shorts and Carmen was dressed in a black shirt with a red collar and gray sweatpants.   
“Ready?” Carmen asked her girlfriend.  
Julia had a confident look plastered on her face, “Ready!”

The walk to Ivy and Zack’s hotel room was short, and the two held their hands tightly. They knew that the twins would accept them, they just didn’t know if they’d be mad that they intended to not tell them until the trip was over. When they reached the door, Julia decided to be the one to knock. So she did, and the door opened to reveal Ivy wearing a robe and Zack eating shrimp on their shared bed.   
“Oh, hi boss, and Jules,” Ivy said.  
“Hi Ivy,” Julia said, “May we come in?”

Ivy nodded, unsure of why both Carmen and Julia had come knocking on her door at ten thirty pm. She looked down to see that Julia and Carmen had their hands laced together tight, this was bound to be interesting.  
Ivy closed the door behind both guests and led them to where Zack was watching a movie while eating shrimp. She didn’t even know how she had been talked into buying shrimp for her brother, it just happened. At least he wasn’t making a mess, that was a miracle.   
“So, what’s up?” Ivy asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.   
Instead of giving her an answer, Carmen looked to Zack, “Hey Zack? Can you call Player and get him on FaceTime? We have something we’d like to tell you guys,”.  
Zack nodded and scrambled to find his phone. When he did, he texted Player quickly and in less than two minutes, Player’s face was visible to the group.   
“It’s like 3:30 a.m here, this better be important,” Player grumbled from the screen.  
Julia winced, “Right, we’re really sorry about that Player, this’ll be quick, we promise,”.  
Zack held the phone up and looked at Carmen and Julia, waiting for an explanation, same with Ivy.   
“So, we just wanted to tell you guys that Carmen and I are together, like dating each other,” Julia said awkwardly.  
There was a quick silence. Until a certain teenager broke it.   
“Hah, tell me something I don’t know,” Player laughed, “Ah, but in all honesty though, congrats and I’m going back to bed,”   
With that, he hung up and the room was silent again. Ivy didn’t know what to think. Sure, she was happy for them, but she was also a bit angry. They had been clearly trying to hide their relationship earlier, but as Ivy thought about it some more, it made sense. If this information got into the wrong hands, it could be bad. It was bad enough that Ivy and Zack had been kidnapped once, if Julia was, Ivy didn’t know what Carmen would do. She had seen her face when that other ACME agent, Devineaux, had told her that Julia wasn’t around anymore. She had looked broken, like something was missing.   
Even though it had taken Carmen a while to realize her feelings, Ivy knew that Carmen loved Julia all along. The same went for Julia, so when Ivy thought it through, she wasn’t mad anymore.   
“Aww, come here you big idiots!” she joked, pulling them both into a big hug, Zack joining in too.   
“You guys are totally cute and no way we would judge you,” he said, Ivy nodded.   
Carmen and Julia both smiled, hands still intertwined. They were happy that they could enjoy themselves together around their friends. Now all they needed to do was tell Shadowsan, but that could wait until tomorrow. 

It had started raining hard that night, the wind howled and the rain hammered onto the windows forcefully. It was so bad even, that Shadowsan had called off the caper, no doubt VILE had as well.   
So, after a couple rounds of playing cards with Zack and Ivy, the couple retreated back to their room to sleep. But, after a while of restless laying, Carmen popped up and turned on the TV, flipping through channels to see what was on.   
Finally one of the channels had a movie that made both of them excited. Carmen placed the remote control and let Julia roll into her arms. At one point it seemed as if Julia had fallen asleep and left Carmen watching the movie, wide eyed at the action and music. It had been forever since she watched this movie and watching it again with her girlfriend made her bouncy.   
“You look like such a dork, Carmen,” Julia teased, smiling against Carmen’s shoulder.  
Carmen laughed a bit kissing Julia’s forehead, she wished that this moment would never end, and of course, it did. 

The window shattered and the fowl weather burst inside, chilling the room.   
“How sweet, a nice little bonding moment! So glad I had the chance to ruin it!” a familiar tiger-themed operative sang.


	6. Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmen has to make one of the hardest choices of her life

“Tigress!?” Carmen blurted out, clearly both annoyed and angry at the same time.   
Meanwhile, Julia paced at the back end of the room, her face cupped in her hands. Her thoughts buzzed around in her mind, the anxiety building.   
She had no idea what to think, their secret was out, they were vulnerable, without weapons or help, what were they to do!?   
The tiger themed operative sneered, “You’re secret’s out Carmen, you’re defenseless and I’m here to make sure you never get in the way of VILE’s plans again!”.  
Carmen rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.  
Julia continued to pace back and forth, muttering her calming mantra and trying to keep herself centered. Sadly, it did her no favours.  
“Can she like shut up?! She’s annoying and I can’t think with her just muttering like an insecure teenager,” Tigress whined, groaning and muttering something under her breath.  
Carmen scowled, “Don’t talk about my girlfriend like that!”.  
Both Julia and Carmen’s eyes went wide. Now VILE knew the biggest secret they held and could use it against them.  
“Oh right forgot that you’re like gay and dating her,” Tigress said, adding disgust on the words ‘gay’ and ‘her’.  
Carmen couldn’t take any more crap from Tigress, “I’m not gay! And Jewel’s ten million times better than you’ll ever hope to be!”.  
She raised an eyebrow in response, “Seriously?”.  
“I’m bi, shut up,” Carmen fumed.   
Tigress scoffed, “Seriously? I don’t know what’s worse, the fact you’re not trying to fight me right now or the fact that you’re dating her,”.  
“You know, Tigress, I took you for a lot of things, but homophobic was not one of them. I guess I can still learn new things about you!” Carmen spat.   
Tigress made a mocking face, “Whatever Carmen, I really don’t care, because soon, you’ll be gone and VILE won’t have to worry about you anymore,”.  
“You seem pretty sure about that, yet I don’t see any backup and you haven’t been too lucky apprehending me in the past,” she laughed in reply.  
Carmen gave Tigress an angry stare, Tigress returned it and crossed her arms, putting on a cruel smirk of hers. 

Julia couldn’t believe was was going on right now. Tigress had somehow found their hotel room, broke in, and apprehended them. Why hadn’t she fought back by now? Carmen knew what she was doing, right?   
“Carm?” she spoke up, voice small.   
The brunette turned her head and gave Julia a reassuring smile, “Yes, Jules?”.  
“I’m scared,” she whispered so Tigress wouldn’t hear.  
Carmen turned to completely face Julia, “I’ll protect you, I promise”.

Carmen was so lost in Julia’s eyes, they were so scared, so nervous. She knew that Jules got anxious sometimes, especially considering the people she used to work around. She wanted nothing more to hug Julia, to tell her that everything would be alright, that she would protect her forever. But Julia was strong, and as much as Carmen wanted to protect Julia, she could protect herself. But why had she broken down now? Before she’d been so bold up against Tigress, now she was pacing in the back of the room and freaking out. Maybe it was the costume? Maybe she felt out of the role? Maybe-  
But she never finished her train of thought.   
“Carmen!”  
She was pushed to the side, collapsing on the floor, and hitting her head up against the edge of the table.   
The world faded slowly, a flurry of sounds and muffled screams surrounded her, but she was too tired, too confused and helpless to do anything about it. 

~

“Carm?” a voice asked her, coming from somewhere beyond her void.   
The void shook, more and more voices clamouring around her as she slowly blinked, taking note of where she was.   
Light. Bright, blinding light and shrill sirens were the only things that filled her senses. She heard a few words here and there, they did nothing to calm the lump that had begun to form in her throat.   
Missing  
Unsure  
Concussion  
Unwell  
And her the most worrisome of all, Kidnapped  
She was in the hotel room she was in before, her head was throbbing and the light in the room didn’t make it any better. What had happened?  
The memories flashed back, Tigress, Julia, VILE, the push, oh no, where was Julia!?  
Carmen blinked a couple more times, staring up directly at the faces of Ivy and Shadowsan, “Julia.., where’s Julia?”.  
The two of them exchanged a look, “Look, Carm,”.  
Ivy didn’t get to finish, “No,” Tears broke from Carmen’s eyes, “Oh no,” the tears continued, “No, no, no!”.  
The pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle the more she thought about it. She’d taken her, Tigress had planned to take Carmen, but she ended up taking Julia instead. Why, why had Julia pushed her out of the way? Now she was probably being tortured, this was exactly what Carmen had wanted to avoid.   
Why did it feel like someone had torn her heart out and cut it into pieces?   
Ivy bit her lip and Shadowsan looked away, giving Carmen a pat on the shoulder. Zack looked downward with a somber expression on the other side of the room. Player sat in a chair as he always did, on a FaceTime call via Carmen’s computer. They were all filled with concern, concern for Carmen who was crying in front of them for the first time and concern for their missing friend.   
“I promised her that I’d protect her,” Carmen managed through tears, “Now I don’t know what I’ll do! VILE has Julia and I doubt they’ll make it as easy to rescue her as it was to rescue Zack and Ivy,”.  
Player signed from beyond the screen, “I know this sounds crazy, Red, but VILE doesn’t have Julia,”.  
Her head shot up, “What? Where is she then!?”.  
“ACME, they took her,” Shadowsan interjected.   
Carmen’s eyes narrowed, “Geez, I really hate them, they really are a thorn in my spine. But, at least I know that they won’t hurt her, they are at least trying to be good,”.   
She sighed, leaning back against the pillows on the bed, “You know what Jules would say right now? She’d be all like: ‘What a fine mess you have yourself in Carmen!’,”.  
Carmen laughed a sad little laugh, letting the tears fall quietly and slowly down her cheeks, “Well, what is it, what do they want for them to give me Jules back? Me to join them? Information? VILE’s location? An apology?”.  
She saw how everyone held their breath as she said that, “Why don’t you see for yourself, Carm,” Ivy said, handing her a tablet.   
Carmen took it reluctantly, not liking the looks on her friends’ faces. She opened it up, automatically activating the only message on the tablet. The video was just Chief in a white room making demands, but it really felt like the end of the world for her.   
“Hello, Carmen Sandiego. You must be wondering, how did we manage to capture Julia when it was someone else who apprehended her? Well, it’s quite simple, we stole her from that other person. From that person, we managed to learn that you and Julia seem to be a pair. So, here’s the deal Carmen, you have two choices.  
You can one, continue being Carmen Sandiego: The Scarlet Superthief and we’ll keep Julia locked up and tortured forever.   
Or, you can turn yourself in to us and face the punishment you deserve, and then your precious Julia can go free.   
It’s your choice, you have until the end of the day tomorrow.   
Choose wisely, because there are no take backs.   
With that, the video ended and Carmen felt her world shatter into a million pieces.


	7. Time Is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmen makes her choice

This was not your average Team Red discussion. Usually there were many differing opinions, now there wasn’t even one. How could they make a choice? ACME was basically asking for an exchange, a wanted criminal for a seemingly innocent historian. Not that Carmen was evil or anything, that’s just how the world painted her.  
But in reality, it was more than an exchange for Carmen, it was a decision, was she going to choose her career or love.  
“Carmen, there is no way you can give yourself up!” Zack declared, “We should tell them that they don’t have a deal,”.  
Ivy scoffed, “You’re seriously suggesting we just let them torture Julia!?”.  
“There’s not much of a choice here, Ivy! If we give them Carmen, VILE wins!” Zack retorted, flailing his arms around his body.  
“He is right,” Shadowsan intervened, “Carmen cannot go with them,”.  
Ivy scowled at both of them, “I can’t believe the both of you! Julia is our friend, our teammate, she’s- she’s Carmen’s girlfriend,”.  
Shadowsan and Zack stopped arguing with Ivy and turned to look at Carmen. Shadowsan looked like he’d just been punched in the gut, pure shock and disbelief.  
“Y-you and Julia? You’re together?” he asked Carmen, who seemed to be shaking.  
Carmen let her hands that were previously wrapped around her figure to fall to her sides. Her hands were balled into fists, shaking with rage. With a sharp intake of breath, she punched the wall she was currently facing with an angry cry. She continued punching the wall, her hits becoming less and less powerful as the seconds marched on.  
Ivy looked away, unable to see her friend in this state, “Carm,” she managed.  
“Stop,” Carmen whispered,”Just STOP!”.  
She whirled around, tears in her angry eyes. Her left fist looked bruised and it seemed to look like it was bleeding just a little, but Carmen didn’t seem to care.  
Zack looked horrified, “Carmen..?”.  
“You talk about her like she wasn’t just here with us this evening laughing and part of our team,” she breathed, her breaths short and ragged.  
Shadowsan extended his hand, Carmen slapped it, “LEAVE!”.  
Ivy and Zack looked scared and surprised that Carmen was so angry and emotional about this. Their breathing was quick, their veins full of adrenaline as they quietly approached the door.  
“Carmen, are you okay?” Player asked from the screen.  
Carmen continued shaking as if she were about to explode, “I can’t talk right now. I can’t think right now. Could you all, just please, give me space?”.  
Her voice was shaky, like she was trying to either hold back the urge to punch the wall again or the urge to cry. From the look in her eyes, Ivy could probably guess that it was the second option.  
Before leaving the room and closing the door, Ivy gave Carmen a last glance, “If you do need to talk, we’ll be here, okay Carm?”.  
Carmen simply gave a small nod before Ivy locked the door, leaving Carmen all alone.

~ 

The walls were painted a soft gray. It made the room feel metallic, cold, and distant, all emotions she hadn’t felt in a while. Earlier this very evening, her world had been filled with colour, warmth, and laughter. It had been happy and fulfilling, it had felt like home. Now, now she was far away from them, far away from anything she could ever consider her home.  
A cell, rough carpeting, gray walls, a small bed. That was all she had, they had taken her outfit, her glasses, even her earrings. Anything she had owned from her time with Carmen was gone, probably burnt to a crisp. Her hair was probably a mess, she wouldn’t know though, she hadn’t seen herself in the mirror since brushing her teeth three hours ago. Since then she’d been kidnapped, locked up, and thrown around like a sack of potatoes.  
The door to her cell unlocked slowly, and Julia found herself looking up at the ceiling. It was bare, dull, lifeless, but something about its dullness calmed her, maybe it was so unproblematic that she liked it.  
“Chief,” she stated, no emotion in her voice.  
She heard the clicks of heels, “Julia Argent,”.  
Julia didn’t look in the direction of her ex-boss when she walked up to see her. She didn’t look her way when she heard more people enter the cell, presumably Zari and Devineaux. She just kept staring up at the ceiling, wishing that it would open up and let her free, let her leave and go back home.  
“Quiet, are we?” Chief commented, you could practically hear the smirk on her face.  
Julia simply grunted, turning away from her company. She refused to acknowledge them, they used to her her co-workers. She even considered them friends at one point in time, how had they betrayed her so quickly?  
Chief let out an annoyed sigh, “We’ve offered Carmen Sandiego a deal. She can turn herself in and you go free, or she can continue what she does and you’ll stay here. Do you have anything to say about this?”.  
Even with this new information, Julia didn’t let her emotions be known to the ACME agents. If she let them know what she felt, they could use it against Carmen, and she couldn’t let that happen. Carmen would never give up her goal, her one purpose in life just to save her. She had said so, that night actually.

~  
“How can Maria just give up her dreams of becoming a nun just for love? She doesn’t even know if he’ll love her back!” Carmen had said.  
Julia had laughed at that, giving her girlfriend a smile, “She never really wanted to be nun that badly. It was just something she settled into since she didn’t have any other ideas of what she wanted to do,”.  
“What do you mean?” Carmen had asked.  
“Well, Maria states that she only really became a nun because she liked their gardens. She didn’t have another drive in life, that is until Von Trapp and his kids came along. She found solace in them, she found a home, a drive. Something she never felt at the convent,” Julia had tried explaining.  
Carmen had nodded hesitantly, “I just- I don’t think I’d ever be able to just give up fighting VILE. Sure it’s never what I really wanted to be, but I don’t really have much of a choice, do I?”.  
“We always have a choice darling,”

~ 

Just thinking about her brought tears to Carmen’s eyes. Julia was always so sure, so wise, and so true. How could Carmen just leave her there with ACME who had no intention on keeping her unharmed. In their offer they had specifically used the word torture, what they meant was beyond her, but any form of torture couldn’t be good. She needed to make a choice and she needed to make one now.  
But, her feelings had other ideas.  
Heavy tears feel from her eyes as she let herself fall, back first onto the bed she and Julia had been sharing earlier this evening. Her head turned to face Julia’s side, where her necklace had been carefully tucked under her pillow.  
Julia never slept with her necklace on. She had said that it was because she didn’t want to get choked in the middle of the night by accident, and based on what she knew about Julia, which was a lot, that was very in-character for her. Carmen pulled the necklace from its snug position under the pillow. She held it in her hands like something more precious than gold. Carmen just couldn’t hold back anymore, more tears rained down from her eyes and onto the bed.  
She brought the necklace up to her face and pressed the charm to her lips, “Oh Jules, I miss you so much,”.  
Carmen put the necklace around her neck in an effort to keep Julia close to her. After a while of crying, her sadness turned into a high of boiling anger. She punched the pillow behind her in a fit of all of it. But that high eventually faded, leaving her with feathers all over the bed and an ever-growing emptiness in her heart.  
“This,” she whispered, “This is all my fault,”.  
Feedback came from her earring before it was answered by a familiar voice, “No, none of this is your fault Carmen. These things happen,”.  
“Player! How are you still here?!” Carmen gasped, worried he heard all of what she was doing beforehand.  
She heard a small chuckle on the other line, “Your earring communicators are designed to never mute themselves in case of an emergency. The only way to mute them is from your phone and my computer, which you seemed to have forgotten, despite having designed these yourself,”.  
“Heh, right,” she said, albeit a bit embarrassed, “Look, I’m sorry that I yelled at the others before, but I don;t know what to do. They basically embodied the two sides of my brain at war right now. My sentimental side, the one that’s attached, the one that cares tells me I should turn myself in. Then, there’s my logical side, telling me that’s the last thing I should do. I don’t know anymore. What do you think I should do?”.  
Player thought about his answer for a moment before answering, “You want to know what I think Red?” he paused, “Follow your heart,”.  
“I beg your pardon?” Carmen retorted.  
Player repeated himself, “Follow your heart, it’s the only way you’ll never fully regret your decision,”.  
“But how do I know what my heart wants? It wants Julia, I know that, but I also want to fight VILE. I can’t just let them win, it's just like what Zack and Shadowsan said. But, I can’t just leave Jules alone, just like what Ivy said,” Carmen said, pacing around the room.  
Player intended another way for his ideas to resonate with Carmen, “But what do you really want, Red? After VILE’s gone, what will you do?”.  
“What do I want? After VILE’s gone, I don’t know what I’ll want. I’d want Jules to be with me, maybe a house somewhere, in the countryside? We’d maybe have a small garden and work at a museum together. We could give history talks and maybe even raise a kid together..,” Carmen didn’t seem to realize how immersed she’d gotten by this fantasy.  
Carmen stopped, “I know, I know what I want! I know you’ll do great without me. When I was still recovering from my illnesses, Shadowsan managed to take care of most of my missions. With Julia back, you should be able to work without me just as well,”.  
“See, I knew you’d figure it out,” Player said, happy that his friend decided something that gave her peace of mind.  
Carmen smiled to herself, “Hey Player?”.  
“Yeah, Red?”  
“Thanks,”

~

“So? No greeting for your old boss? You’re not going to say anything at all?” Chief asked, getting increasingly more annoyed by the second.  
Julia growled, “I have nothing nice to say to you, any of you,”.  
“Not even me? Or Devineaux?” Zari added.  
Julia scoffed and sat up, turning to face the three people who brought her the most pain in her adult life, “No, and how could I!? You,” she pointed at Zari, “You act like my feelings don’t exist, like I could never be right! You,” she pointed at Chief, “You don’t take me seriously! You put me down and go against anything I say! You sent ACME forces after Carm after I specifically told you not to! And you!” Julia spat, finally pointing at the last offender, “You are the worst! For years you picked on me, making fun of my feelings, my interests, and my beliefs! You hated me for being who I am and you’re the one who made my life here a living hell! So, no. I don’t have anything nice to say to any of you, and I would appreciate it if you left me alone,”.  
With that, Julia turned away from them, facing the cool, composed wall and the dullness of its colour. Before the three could leave however, Zari’s tablet rang. The lifeless ringtone carried through the small cell, causing it to echo louder.  
“That must be the reply to our offer, maybe we should let Julia hear it too?” Zari asked Chief, nothing but maliciousness in her eyes.  
Chief nodded and Julia turned away from the three of them, not wanting them to give them the satisfaction of seeing her reaction when Carmen says she isn’t going to take the deal. 

The call was answered and Chief looked at Carmen, who was surrounded by her peers.  
Ivy stood right by Carmen, looking around in the background for Julia, Zack stood in the back with Shadowsan, looks of worry on their faces. Player wasn’t seen, he was probably in bed, it was like 6am in his country and he barely got any sleep.  
“So,” Chief said, “What’s your choice?”.

Julia heard shuffling and murmurs, she assumed that it was someone trying to stop Carmen from voicing her choice, Ivy probably.  
Carmen cleared her throat, “I’d like to see Julia before I tell you anything,”.  
“She’s not dead,” Zari added dryly.  
Carmen sighed, “You know that’s not what I meant,”.  
With an exasperated eye roll, Zari passed the tablet to Julia.  
Carmen looked awful. Her hair was a mess and it looked odd, given she didn;t have her extensions on, so that was probably why. Her eyes were bloodshot, indicating she’d cried a lot or hadn’t slept much. Julia assumed that it was a bit of both, it wasn’t a pretty look for her to say the least.  
Julia snickered a bit, “You look awful, darling,”.  
“Wow, I’m so concerned for you and the first thing you tell me is that I look awful,” Carmen joked, smiling at Jules.  
Julia smiled back, “You know I’m going to miss you,” Julia paused, “All of you,”.  
“What do you mean, Jules?” Carmen asked.  
Julia let a small laugh escape from her throat, “I know you’re not going to take the deal, darling. That’s just how you are, but, I’ll never stop waiting for you to break me out,”.  
“Julia, I would never leave you alone. Something a friend told me today helped me realize that I’d always choose you over anything, because I know you’d do the same for me. Plus, you’ll probably make a better leader than me anyway,” Carmen said nervously.  
Julia’s eyes widened, “Carmen, what are you saying?”.  
“I’m saying, Chief, you have a deal,”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all! The title is a jab at a title of a chapter of Blood-Ink by Lupicut on Webtoon. It's a very good series if you're looking for something to read!
> 
> I hope y'all enjoyed and are looking forward to the 4th and final season of CS coming out on January 15th. I'd like to finish this fic before then so expect another chapter coming soon.
> 
> See you in the next chapter,
> 
> ~ Indie


	8. Change: Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carmen is "interrogated" by Chief and Zari; Julia deals with Carmen being gone

Somewhere In The World, ACME Headquarters  
A Few Weeks Later

“I told you, I’m not telling you anything!” Carmen spat as she was restrained by ACME’s state of the art handcuffs.  
Chief rolled her eyes, “And I’ve told you Miss Sandiego, we won’t stop until you say something! I don’t understand, if you say you’re so keen on stopping VILE, why don’t you tell us anything!?”.  
“I don’t trust you! Not after what you did to me in Sweden!” Carmen snapped.   
It had been like this for a while, Chief would ask something and Carmen wouldn’t anything. Then, Chief would ask again and Carmen would say she wasn’t going to say anything. This had gone on for at least three hours and it didn’t seem like either Carmen or Chief were getting tired.   
“Maybe we should give this a rest, Chief. It doesn’t look like she’ll be cooperating today,” Zari interjected, getting ready to open the door to the interrogation room.   
Chief simply scoffed at Zari’s proposal, “She never cooperates,” she gave Carmen a glare, “And I won’t stand for it,.  
Zari rolled her eyes and pulled Chief aside, who seemed very angry that her employee was dragging her to the side as if to scold her behaviour like she was a toddler. It wasn’t an ideal look for her in front of the elusive Carmen Sandiego.   
But, while Zari and Chief had a discussion, Devineaux decided to try and spark a conversation with the crimson ghost himself. He sat down at the table in front of her, eyeing as she played with a gold chain around her neck. Upon further inspection, he realized it to be Julia’s necklace, the one she always wore in casual attire.   
“It’s a pretty necklace isn’t it?” the words were out of Devineaux’s mouth before he could even register what he said.   
Carmen raised an eyebrow, “I beg your pardon?”.  
“W-what I meant to say is that it’s Julia’s necklace, right?” he said, remembering all those times when Julia would fidget with it during stressful cases back at Interpol.   
Carmen’s face softened at the word of Julia’s name, “Yeah, she fidgets with it when she’s nervous or scared, I find it endearing,” her face fell, “She always takes it off before she sleeps and puts it under her pillow. I never got to give it back to her, well, at least now I can have this part of her with me,”.  
Devineaux looked at Carmen while she spoke, it was as if she was transported to a different realm, one where she and Julia could be together and she wasn’t behind bars. Right now, Devineaux even felt a bit guilty at the way ACME was treating them, didn’t Julia say that the crimson ghost wasn’t as bad as they thought she was? Before Devineaux could even think through what Carmen had said, Zari and Chief returned, looking rather cross.   
“Sandiego,” Chief said, her tone was all suppressed anger and warning.  
Carmen looked up at her, any softness and emotion her eyes once held was gone and replaced with muted fury, “Chief,”.  
“If you don’t cooperate, we will have no choice but to go back on our deal,” Chief said, holding her glance at Carmen, as if it was a competition, “Julia will come back into our custody and you will never be able to see her again,”.  
Carmen growled and she stood up, handcuffs restricting her from throwing hands with the chief of ACME, “You wouldn’t dare!”.  
“We won’t touch her if you cooperate,” Chief said,   
Carmen considered her options for a moment. She knew not saying anything was out of the question, the thing was, what could she say? She had no idea what ACME was keen on knowing, and she didn’t exactly want to help them.   
Carmen decided on making it up on the spot, “Fine,” she gritted through her teeth, “I’m listening,”.  
“Perfect,” Chief said, a wide grin spreading across her features, “Now, what exactly is the nature of your relationship with this man?”.  
Zari turned her tablet to reveal a sketch of Shadowsan, then swiped to show images of her and Shadowsan at various places.  
Carmen sat back in her metal chair and propped her feet up on the table, “Oh, him? He’s just a source of intel, an informant if you may,”.  
“You seem very chummy, it would be hard to believe you’re only acquaintances,” Chief did not seem very pleased with Carmen’s answer.  
Carmen sat back up straight and rolled her eyes, “Look, you asked for my answers and that’s what I’m giving. If you don’t want them, then I don’t know what to tell you,”.  
Chief sighed and looked at Zari who understood and turned to the next slide. This next one was a sketch of Coach Brunt. Now Carmen knew exactly what to say.  
“Ah, her. She was an old teacher of mine in high school,” she said.  
Chief gave her a look of annoyance and Carmen simply shrugged in response. Lastly, Zari swiped to reveal the last picture,  
It was of Julia.   
“Tell us,” Chief said, starting to circle Carmen’s chair, “What is your relationship with Miss Julia Argent?”.  
Carmen gulped, she couldn’t lie here, ACME basically knew half the story already. Even if that was the case, and it was, why were they asking her this? They could be asking about VILE or who’s side she was on, but instead they asked about Jules, why?  
Carmen tried to steady her quivering eyes, “My relationship with Jules? What does that have to do with anything?”.  
“Everything Miss Sandiego,” Chief said, placing her hands on the back of Carmen’s chair, “You see, Julia doesn’t belong with you. She’s a noble agent, a woman of the law, not an elusive superthief,”.  
Carmen narrowed her eyes further, Chief wasn’t right, but she wasn’t wrong either, “She’s not my prisoner, she may go whenever she pleases,”.  
“And that’s the issue,” Chief paused, “She doesn’t”.  
Carmen couldn’t stand these people, after all she did for them, they still saw her as an enemy, “And what of it? Maybe unlike some people, she realized that I’m not the bad guy here,”.  
“Why doesn’t she leave Sandiego? What have you told her?” Chief says, whipping around and looking Carmen in the eyes.   
What have I told her? Carmen thought back at all the things she’d ever told Julia. When she’d first met her, she’d basically flirted with her that train in Mumbai, and then at the fashion show in Milan, and also in Stockholm, jeez, how many times had she flirted with Julia before they actually got together? In Venice, she’d told her that she could join her when she was down. At their base she’d been there for her whilst training and helped her reach her best self. On the plane to Vienna she had told her that she liked her and they’d kiseed. In Vienna, they’d gone on a date and told Ivy and Zack about their relationship. Carmen has said so many things to Julia at this point, some important, some not. She didn’t know what ACME wanted to hear, but she settled on one.   
“I told her,” Carmen began in a low, dreamy voice, as if she was off in another land, “I told her that if she wanted a home, somewhere where she could be herself, and be loved, she could join me,” Carmen paused before she continued, “I told her there were risks involved with being involved with me, but she didn’t care,” she looked up at Chief’s bewildered face as she finished, “I told her that I loved her, and that I’d protect her,”.  
Smack  
Chief had stricken Carmen so fast that anyone would have missed it, “Stop lying, Sandiego,” her eyes narrowed, “Miss Argent doesn’t swing that way,”.  
“Actually, she does,” Devineaux interjected before Carmen could reply, “She told me after I tried asking her out,”.  
Chief turned to Devineaux with a certain interested look on her face, “I see, and you didn’t disclose this with me, because?”.  
“With all due respect Chief, I didn’t think it was any of your business,” Devineaux replied flatly.   
Carmen didn’t know what to think right now, was Devineaux defending Julia? It didn’t add up, from what Julia had told her, Devineaux was an asshole, a homophobe. Granted, he was still holding Carmen captive and seemingly doing nothing about it.   
Zari seemed to disagree with Devineaux sentiment, “Of course it was her business Devineaux! If I knew that Julia was a lesbian, I would have reported her instanly. I wouldn’t want to have a f-”.  
Carmen knew that word, she’d heard it be used against Jean-Paul and Antonio in the academy a couple times and against random couples in her travels. Needless to say, she hated the word, she hated the sound, the meaning, and spelling, everything. In every language, that word set her off, and now? Now that this word she hated was being used to describe the person she loved, it made her blood boil.   
“What did you say?” Carmen growled.  
Zari looked at Carmen in surprise, as if she was shocked that the word had made her angry, “Oh! You didn’t like the word I used, did you?”  
“No, and you’ll take it back unless you want to die,”  
“Looks like someone’s pissed that I insulted their strange, idiotic girlfriend,”  
It was Devineaux’s turn to talk, “Zari, please stop, can’t you see you’re making her angry?”.  
“SHUT UP! She’s the smartest person I know!”  
“Why does this bother you so much? It’s just silly teasing, it’s not like she was anyone special anyway. She was always a weak link, so obsessed with proving your innocence she lost sight of why she was hired in the first place,”  
Carmen refused to let this asshole talk about Jules that way, “Stop talking about her like that! You better shut your mouth before I make sure you can never breathe again,”.  
Devineaux spoke again, “Zari, really, that’s enough,”.  
“Julia Argent will forever be remembered as ACME’s most clueless,”  
She was glaring at Zari, tears threatening to form in her eyes, “No!”  
“Weakest,”  
“No!”  
“Most eager to quit after a letdown,”  
“Stop!”  
“Pathetic,”  
“I said STOP!”   
“Disposable”  
“JUST STOP!” Carmen was now basically thrashing around in her seat, fighting tears.  
“Least important agent to have ever existed,”  
“SHUT UP!”  
“Who’s this?” she held up the tablet with Shadowsan’s sketch on it.  
Carmen spoke out before she could even think, “Shadowsan!”  
Everyone, mostly both Chief and Carmen looked at each other in disbelief. Carmen couldn’t believe that she just spilled who Shadowsan was, and Chief couldn’t believe that Zari’s method actually worked.   
Julia was and always will be Carmen’s weak point, and Zari had found a way to use that to their advantage, “Marvelous work, Agent Zari. It seems your strategy worked perfectly,”.  
Carmen sat, hands behind her, bruised from the thrashing against the metal back. Tears were already in her eyes, a couple droplets falling to the gray tiles. Her hair was a mess and her arms were covered in goosebumps from the cold air.   
Chief approached her and lifted her chin, “If you fail to cooperate tomorrow, we’ll do this again,”.  
“I won’t fall for your game a second time, Chief,” Carmen said smugly, glaring at her.   
She dropped Carmen’s chin and turned to leave, “Oh we know, Miss Sandiego, good thing we have many more games to play with you,”.  
Before anything else could be said, Devineaux spoke, “Chief, don’t you think that was a bit drastic? You saw how angry and defeated she looked! Can’t we do something else?” he proposed, not able to look at Carmen after what he just witnessed.   
“I do what I need to do to get answers, Devineaux. If we keep at it like we were before, we’ll get partial truths and silence from her. At least now we have a way of getting her to speak the truth,” Chief answered, leaving along with Zari.   
Devineaux bit his lip and turned to Carmen, unhooking her from the chair and walking her to her cell. 

It wasn’t a very pleasant evening. The caper in Vienna was finished by Shadowsan and Ivy successfully over two weeks ago, and the new capers seemed to be resolved easily, and without incident. Julia constantly wondered if Carmen was okay, if she though about her, and if she was getting enough sleep. She told herself that it was dumb, but she didn’t listen, all she could do was daydream about Carmen being there with her and cry herself to sleep.   
Julia heard a knock on her door, “Hey Jules? It’s me, Ivy,”.  
“Come in,” she said in a whisper loud enough for Ivy to hear. 

Ivy turned the knob and walked in, Julia’s room had always been one of her favourites in the base. She had a queen size bed in one corner and bookshelves lined the walls on the opposite side. A desk sat near the door and some potted bamboo by the window. The curtains were drawn when Ivy walked in and Julia was in bed, a book in her hands.   
“That any good?” she asked, pointing to the book.   
Julia smiled, “Yeah, but you wouldn’t like it,”.  
Ivy nodded and walked to her bed, she sat down and looked at her friend in the eyes, “Look, Julia, we’ve all been worried about you, especially Player. You barely eat, you’re always holed up in your room reading, and in the night I hear you sneak out to the training room,” Ivy paused and she grabbed Julia’s free hand, “Are you okay?”.  
The look Julia gave Ivy was hard to place. It was happy, sad, relieved, but also guilty. Ivy wanted nothing more but to erase Julia’s pain, to bring back Carmen and see her smile again.   
Julia closed the book on her lap, revealing the cover, “You’re right, I’m not okay,” she paused a small smile forming on her face, “But you’re wrong too,”.  
“Oh? What am I wrong about?” Ivy asked.  
Julia looked down the the book and blushed, “I don’t sneak out to the training room, I sneak out to Carmen’s room. Sometimes I just lie down in her bed and hug one of her pillows since they still smell like her. I guess it’s stu-”.  
Ivy cut her off, “That is so adorable, Julia,”.   
She blushed harder, “Now don’t go telling the rest of the crew, I only told you since I trust you,”.  
Ivy chuckled, “I won’t tell anyone, I promise,” she stood up and offered Julia her hand, “Now, would you be so kind as to grace us with your presence at diner tonight?”.  
Julia bit her lip, she didn’t want to let Ivy down and make them worry about her more, so she accepted her hand, “Sure,”.

Julia knew that she was depressed. She had been before, when she was with ACME. While this string wasn’t as miserable since she still had Ivy and Player, there was still an obvious factor missing.  
Carmen.   
Julia had cried nights upon nights about the fact that she was gone. Team Red had tried planning a few escapes but she knew that they would never work. ACME was sharp, resourceful, and crafty. There was no way they’d let them reach their most prized prisoner. The only way Julia could imagine saving Carmen was if someone from the inside helped her, and from where things stood between her and Devineaux, she doubted he’d help her.   
Julia and Ivy touched down in the living room to see that Shadowsan was nowhere to be found and Zack was conversing with Player, who was hooked up onto the large TV screen.   
“Guys, look who I managed to get for dinner!” Ivy announced enthusiastically.   
Julia gave the team a small wave, “Hello,”.  
“Oh finally! You have no idea how long we’ve been waiting for you to eat dinner with us! If only Shadowsan was here to see this!” Zack beamed, jumping around happily.   
Julia cleared her throat, “Where is Shadowsan?”.  
“He had to take care of something in Zurich, he should be back by lunch tomorrow,” Player informed her from the screen.   
“Has he been doing all the work?” Julia asked, suddenly a bit guilty she’d been holed up in her room for the past few days.   
Player tried to be generous in the way he told Julia, “Well, most of it anyway,” he added, “Only the ones you don’t help on, sometimes he takes Ivy with him, too,”.  
“Oh,” the sound left her mouth, small and disappointed, “You could’ve called me, and I would’ve helped,”.  
Player smiled kindly, “Nah, you seemed really down Jules. It would've been better for you to sit out most capers until you felt at your best again,”.  
Julia simply nodded, but inside she felt like she was letting Carmen down. 

Devineaux refused to attend Carmen’s “interrogation” sessions. They weren’t interrogating her, they were torturing her. He couldn’t stand the sight of another human being crying and begging for them to stop. Carmen was strong, he never doubted that, but there was a certain point in which anyone would break down. And even despite letting her emotions show, she still held a degree of pride and always walked out of that room with her head up.   
Chief and Zari had been using developmental technology to show Carmen made up situations of Julia dying, leaving her, going dark, being tortured, everything. They did anything for their answers, they didn’t care if Carmen went mad in the process.   
He had spent at least a week in this charade, pretending that this was fine with him. So far, Carmen had given bits and pieces, nothing grand. She’d given them the name of the woman who tortured him, Coach Brunt. She’d told what VILE was, a training academy and institution for professional thieves. She’d revealed that she had been schooled there, along with Shadowsan being faculty as well. But even though he should have been happy to have answers, he didn’t want them, not like this.   
Devineaux started to wonder what Julia would do in his situation. He found himself becoming increasingly more guilty about what he’d done in the past. He found that he did trust her, he trusted more in Julia’s judgement as time marched on. By the end of the day, Devineaux knew exactly what he needed to do. 

It was exactly ten p.m when Devineaux sneaked into the room where Chief kept the keys to the cells. It was easy to find the key for Carmen’s cell since she was the only prisoner ACME had so far. He made sure that there were no alarms rigged to the keys, and as soon as he realized there were none, he took the keys and made his way to Carmen’s cell.  
It was mostly a breeze on his way there. Doors opened without a hitch thanks to his ACME issued I.D card. However, he did run into a problem when he was about three-fourths the way there.   
Zari.   
She was leaning against a doorway, going over the footage from earlier that day on her tablet. She didn’t seem too in tune with what was going on around her, Devineaux assumed that if he moved quickly, she wouldn’t notice him. Thankfully, he was right.   
As soon as he reached the cell, he noticed Carmen wasn’t asleep. She was playing with Julia’s necklace, the small gold circle warm in her palm. He unlocked the door slowly and pressed a finger to his lips as soon as she saw him. She seemed to understand and nodded slowly. Devineaux crept over to her bed and placed the keys in her hand along with an analog pocket watch, an ACME keycard, a small map of the building, and a note he had written earlier. The note was simple, balcony, 1 am. As soon as he’d given her them, he left, leaving Carmen in a whirlwind of confusion. 

It had been two and a half hours since Devineaux had stopped by to give Carmen the items. She didn’t know why Devineaux was helping her escape, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. If it was a trap, it couldn’t get any worse than it was now, could it? She never expected for ACME to be ready to torture her, sure she expected long, aggravating sessions with them, but never to this degree. So, when the hand on the clock struck 12:50 Carmen decided to get her move on. She sat up, stretching, as she slipped the watch under her pillow and the map into her pocket. She’d spent the last two hours memorizing it, but she decided to bring it just in case. Keys in hand, she opened the cell door, and moved down the hallway, the way it was marked on Devineaux’s map. Needless to say, it went great and she was at the balcony by 1:00.  
Once she reached the balcony, she found Devineaux leaning against the large railing next to a table. On that table was something folded, could it be?  
She approached Devineaux and he handed her the red coat and hat that ACME had taken from her when she first arrived, the tools inside were missing, but that didn’t really matter to her.   
“Sorry that I couldn’t find all your tools, I did find these though,” he told her.   
On the table, Carmen saw three things, her hanglider backpack, a small, red pouch, and Julia’s glasses. She grabbed the glasses with unbelieving eyes as she set them on her head. She turned off Julia’s prescription and set them to their normal setting.   
She smiled at Devineaux, “Thank you,” she said as she covered herself in her coat and adjusted her hat.  
“Don’t worry about it, just,” he paused, “Tell Julia I’m sorry about the way I treated her?”.  
Carmen nodded, placing the backpack over her shoulders and opening the pouch. Inside the pouch she saw three things, her passport, some cash, and a small plane ticket.  
Carmen took it out and read where it was for, Mumbai, India.   
“I remember that you first met Julia when you stole the magna carta in Mumbai,” he spoke, his voice soft and unlike Carmen had ever heard before.  
Carmen smiled down at the place ticket, “Thanks, Devineaux,”.  
She closed the pouch and slipped it into one of her interior pockets. As she neared the railing to jump off in the direction of the airport, she heard Devineaux raise his voice one last time, “Hey! Just because I let you go doesn’t mean I trust you!” he smiled at her, “I trust Julia’s judgement,”.  
Carmen smiled back at him, “Same here,”.  
With that, she pushed off the balcony, gliding away in the direction of the airport. 

After dinner they had watched a movie, nothing too special, Julia could barely remember what it was about, anyway. All she could remember is that she couldn’t stop thinking that Carmen would’ve liked the movie. It was currently late in the night, but she still couldn’t sleep. She just kept staring at her phone, watching mindless shows and trying to laugh at stupid jokes. That was until her phone began to ring. It was an unknown number.  
Julia usually avoided these, not wanting to fall for some sort of scammy trap. But, lately she’d been answering every single call, just reaching out for the hope that one would be Carmen calling to tell her that she was okay.   
She accepted the call and put the phone to her ear, “Yes?”.  
“Jules,”  
The amount of relief that flooded her system was enough to fill an entire pool. Julia felt herself shaking, unable to say a single word.   
“Jules if you can hear me, I want you to meet me where our journey first began. I don’t know if people are watching or listening, so please come to where we first crossed paths. I’ll be waiting at the most interesting place,”.  
Steadying herself, Julia managed one word, “Y-yes,”.  
As soon as it had begun, it was over, Carmen hung up and Julia was left alone on her bed. After a second of registering what had just happened, Julia jumped out of her bed and turned on her earrings, making a mad dash for the closet to retrieve her mission clothes.   
“Player! I need you to buy me two round trip tickets to Mumbai, stat!” she said whilst changing.   
The other line chimed in, “Julia it’s two a.m, I’m sure you can wait till morning,”.  
“I assure you, this can’t wait!” she huffed, throwing her wallet, phone, her charger, and a change of clothes into a backpack, “I need them now!”.  
She heard Player yawn, “Ok, fine. I’ll get you the tickets,”.  
“Thank you,” she said.  
As soon as she’d packed a bag, she grabbed a pen from her desk and wrote a note on a blank page in her notebook. It was extremely sloppy, but readable, it said:  
Left for an emergency,  
I’ll be back as soon as possible  
\- Julia  
Once she finished she snatched her passport from her desk and ran out the door, leaving Ivy and Zack alone at the base.


End file.
